A pair of updates in January and February are expected to bring copy/paste and multi-tasking to Windows Phone 7 customers.

Microsoft's overactive CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to be the bearer of both pieces of good news. (Source: The Guardian UK)

Windows Phone Silverlight (current edition pictured) is also rumored to get an upgrade in February, possibly bringing it closer to being in line with current PC edition, Silverlight 4. (Source: MSDN Magazine)

Big changes are in store for Microsoft phone OS

Earlier this week Windows Phone 7 developers began to receive an update which enabled copy and paste.
Now, one of the first sites to leak that news, WinRumors, has followed
up with a leak of Microsoft's pending release schedule
for 2011.

A Tale of Two Updates

According to the report, Microsoft will release the first of two big
updates at the January at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The first update will likely go live after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's
opening keynote on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 6:30
p.m. PST (9:30 p.m. EST). The update will add copy and paste, and possibly
other features.

A second update will air a month later at the 2011 Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona Spain. Mr. Ballmer is set to
deliver a keynote at that event as well, taking place
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. CET (11 a.m. EST, 8 a.m. PST).
That update, according to developer sources, will include APIs to implement
third party multi-tasking, in-app downloads and better customization for end
users.

Unknown is whether either of the two pending updates will include
increased support for maps, tethering, or memory-card hot-swapping.

Windows Phone: Silverlight, Flash, and HTML5

According to recent statements by a Microsoft employee, that second
update could contain a refresh to Silverlight as well. Brian Keller,
Microsoft's Senior Technical Evangelist for Visual Studio application lifecycle
management, in a Channel 9 interview states, "I think we
are saving [Silverlight news], for say another event. If only there was a
massive event in Barcelona on mobile phones and or other events in the
future."

For those of you who don't know what Silverlight is, it's a rich
multimedia medium similar to Adobe's Flash or HTML5+Javascript. WP7 currently does
not support Flash or HTML5, but it does feature a somewhat stripped down version of Silverlight 3, with the keyboard
input of the PC swapped out for multi-touch input.

For interested developers, this post in the Microsoft-sponsored MSDN
magazine is an excellent introduction to the nuances of Silverlight 3 on
Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft is already preparing to push out Silverlight 5's beta to
PC developers. Thus it would be logical to guess that Microsoft might be
preparing a ported version of Silverlight 4 for WP7. Silverlight 4 introduced a number of upgrades including web
cam and microphone support; improved DRM; performance optimizations to make
apps "start quicker and run 200% faster than the equivalent Silverlight 3
application"; improved multi-touch; interaction with Microsoft Office;
in-app HTML; user folder file-access capabilities; and more. Obviously,
many of these could enable some cool new kinds of apps on WP7.

A Microsoft job posting also reveals that an improved
browser with a "major overhaul of standard support and new approaches to
make significant advances in performance, power consumption and bandwidth
utilization" is in the works. Does that mean that WP7 will receive
HTML5 compatibility? Let's hope.

Windows Phone 8 Enters "Planning Phase"

Apparently unconcerned about slow initial sales, Microsoft is looking
ahead, and has already started work on Windows Phone 8. Another job posting reveals:

We are just putting the last touches on Office Mobile 2010 on Windows
Phone 7 which will be a very competitive device and a breakthrough for
Microsoft in the Mobile Market. With Office 15 and Windows Phone 8 planning
phase just getting under way, now is also the perfect time to join us and help
shape the future of Office Mobile 15 on Windows Phone 8 as we plan to create the
next wave of innovation that will lead our product to even greater heights.
Very exciting…